Binance News

The US and Iran are closing in on a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with global crude benchmark Brent tumbling about 6% to its lowest in more than two weeks on Monday as expectations grew that an agreement may be near, according to Bloomberg. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in New Delhi he was "very confident" any deal would be a strong one, though officials cautioned that nothing is ready to be signed and final approval could take several days. The proposed pact would lift the US blockade, with Iran agreeing in principle to dispose of its highly enriched uranium, though the draft does not contain an explicit ban on enrichment nor address Iran's missile stockpile. The US does not plan to unfreeze Iranian assets under the current proposal. Iran's Tasnim news agency reported the draft could still collapse over outstanding clauses. Axios reported the deal would include a 60-day ceasefire extension and an end to the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

Binance Wallet announced on X that Binance Alpha will be the first platform to launch Solstice (SLX), with trading set to begin on May 25, 2026, at 20:00 (UTC+8). Users holding at least 215 Binance Alpha Points will be eligible to claim the token airdrop. The airdrop allows users to claim 250 SLX tokens on a first-come, first-served basis through the Alpha event page.
The airdrop event features a dynamic scoring system where the threshold for claiming tokens will automatically decrease by 5 points every five minutes if the event remains active. Participants should note that claiming the airdrop will consume 15 Binance Alpha Points. To successfully receive the airdrop, users must confirm their claim on the Alpha event page within 24 hours; otherwise, it will be considered forfeited.

According to Odaily citing SoSoValue data, during the trading week (May 18 to May 22, Eastern Time), Bitcoin spot ETFs experienced net outflows of $1.257 billion.
The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest net outflow last week was BlackRock's ETF IBIT, with a weekly net outflow of $1.008 billion. IBIT's total historical net outflow currently stands at $64.77 billion. It was followed by Fidelity's ETF FBTC, which had a weekly net outflow of $112 million, bringing its total historical net outflow to $10.76 billion.
The Bitcoin spot ETF with the largest net inflow last week was Morgan Stanley's ETF MSBT, with a single-week net inflow of $1.1107 million. MSBT's total historical net inflow has now reached $234 million.
As of press time, the total net asset value of Bitcoin spot ETFs stands at $98.87 billion. The ETF net asset ratio (market cap as a percentage of Bitcoin's total market cap) is 6.49%, and the cumulative historical net inflow has reached $57.08 billion.

Ethereum spot ETFs experienced a net outflow of $216 million during the trading week from May 18 to May 22, according to Foresight News. Data from SoSoValue indicates that the Blackrock ETF ETHA recorded the largest outflow, amounting to $189 million, bringing its historical total net inflow to $11.62 billion. Fidelity's ETF FETH followed with a weekly outflow of $21.01 million, with its historical net inflow reaching $2.18 billion. Conversely, the Blackrock ETF ETHB saw the highest net inflow of $5.52 million for the week, with a historical net inflow of $518 million.As of the time of reporting, the total net asset value of Ethereum spot ETFs stands at $11.84 billion, with an ETF net asset ratio of 4.73% compared to Ethereum's total market capitalization. The cumulative historical net inflow for these ETFs has reached $11.62 billion.

Michael Saylor, founder and executive chairman of Bitcoin Treasury company Strategy, announced on the X platform that he has purchased bonds this week instead of Bitcoin. According to Odaily, Saylor mentioned that ₿itVac is currently recharging.

According to The Block, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin published a blog post outlining a leaner future for the Ethereum Foundation, pledging to sell less ETH and focus on "longevity over breadth" as the foundation navigates a wave of high-profile researcher departures. Buterin warned that pursuing high TPS at the cost of decentralization is "a route to mediocrity," arguing it is unacceptable for Ethereum to rely on social consensus and hard forks to recover from 34% of nodes going offline. He described ETH as Ethereum's most valuable product financially and said the EF will be a "smaller ship" and "more opinionated" going forward, with its new structure stabilizing over the next few months.

Cryptocurrency markets have seen a recovery of approximately $75 billion in total capitalization following an update from U.S. President Donald Trump regarding a peace agreement with Iran. According to Cointelegraph, Trump announced on Truth Social that a deal has been "largely negotiated" between the United States, Iran, and several Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain.
Trump stated that the agreement is subject to finalization and that the final aspects and details are currently being discussed, with an announcement expected soon. A significant component of the deal includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway whose closure has led to increased global energy prices and impacted the cost of living in many countries. The closure has also affected investments in high-risk assets like cryptocurrencies, which have seen a retreat in recent times.
The announcement comes amid a fragile ceasefire that began in early April, following several unsuccessful attempts to reach an agreement between the U.S. and Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a visit to India, reiterated Trump's demands for a peace deal, emphasizing that "Iran can never have a nuclear weapon," and that the straits should be open without tolls, with Iran required to turn over its enriched uranium.
In response to the news, the cryptocurrency market reacted positively. Bitcoin prices, which had fallen to a five-week low of $74,250 on Saturday, saw a recovery, reaching the 50-day exponential moving average at $77,000 in early trading on Sunday. However, it later fell back to $76,800 at the time of publication. Despite the minor recovery, Bitcoin remains in a downtrend, having failed to break resistance at $82,000, and is still down 39% from its peak in October.

According to the announcement from Binance, the platform is introducing a limited-time promotion for its Fiat Liquidity Provider Program. This initiative is designed to offer newly enrolled fiat market makers the highest available maker fee rebate rate during the specified Promotion Period. The promotion is set to run from 2026-06-01 00:00 (UTC) to 2026-08-30 23:59 (UTC), targeting market makers who enroll after 2026-05-11 00:00 (UTC). Participants in eligible fiat markets, including TRY, EUR, BRL, JPY, and USD, will automatically receive the highest rebate rate if they meet the qualification criteria, which requires achieving a Maker Volume Percentage of 0.5%.
The qualification review for promotional rebates will commence on 2026-06-01 00:00 (UTC), with liquidity providers undergoing weekly performance reviews. Maker fee rebates will be updated weekly starting from 2026-06-09 00:00 (UTC), based on the previous week's Spot trading performance across selected fiat markets. Existing participants who joined the program before 2026-05-11 00:00 (UTC) are not eligible for this promotion. The rebate rates for qualified fiat markets are set at -0.01% for TRY and EUR, and -0.015% for BRL, JPY, and USD. Calculations for rebates are based on the user's weekly Spot Maker Volume percentage relative to the total Binance Spot Maker Volume in each fiat market.
Qualified participants will benefit from maker rebates and standard VIP taker fees across eligible fiat markets, while unqualified markets will incur zero maker fees and standard VIP taker fees. The program is limited to specified fiat markets on Binance.com, with rebates settled in fiat currency regardless of the quote asset. Binance reserves the right to amend or terminate the program due to regulatory changes, technical issues, or other significant reasons.

Bhutan has recently transferred 90 BTC, valued at $7 million, to a Segwit address, according to Odaily. This action may indicate a shift of assets to an independent entity or a sale. Since the beginning of the year, Bhutan has moved Bitcoin worth $237 million from its wallet to Segwit addresses, while still retaining Bitcoin valued at $233 million.

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, disclosed on X that nearly 90% of his net worth is in ETH. According to Odaily, the remaining portion consists of approximately $40 million in on-chain fiat currency. Each dollar of this fiat is allocated to various open-source biotechnology, software, or hardware projects.

According to Bloomberg, White House chief economic adviser Kevin Hassett said an eventual Iran peace deal would send energy prices plummeting and create room for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. "As soon as there's a deal, we expect energy prices to plummet — and when that happens, there will be a lot of room for the Fed to do the right thing at lower rates," Hassett said on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures. He noted that core inflation has been "barely moving" and argued that a drop in energy costs could even produce negative inflation. The remarks came as Trump posted that Iran negotiations are "proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner." The April CPI rose 3.8%, the fastest in nearly three years, while core CPI hit 2.8%. Hassett also praised newly sworn-in Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, emphasizing he respects the central bank's independence.

According to the announcement from Binance, Binance Square has introduced a new campaign on CreatorPad, offering verified users the opportunity to unlock 100,000 GENIUS rewards by completing simple tasks. The activity period is set from 2026-05-25 09:00 (UTC) to 2026-06-08 23:59 (UTC), with token voucher rewards distribution scheduled before 2026-06-30.
Participants can join the campaign by clicking 'Join now' on the activity page and completing tasks to earn points and rank on the leaderboard. Tasks include creating short posts on Binance Square, following Genius' account on social media, and trading a minimum of $10 equivalent in GENIUS. Eligible users will earn points for each completed task, which will determine their rank on the leaderboard. The reward pool of 100,000 GENIUS is divided equally between the top 400 creators on the GENIUS Global Project Leaderboard and the top 400 eligible Chinese creators on the GENIUS Chinese Project Leaderboard, with rewards calculated based on users' points relative to the total points of the top creators.
The leaderboard data is updated with a T+2 delay, meaning data from 2026-06-08 will be displayed after 2026-06-10 09:00 (UTC). Users must complete account verification (KYC) to receive rewards, and those identified as risk users within seven days following the activity end date will be ineligible for rewards. Binance reserves the right to disqualify participants who engage in suspicious activities or violate community guidelines. The campaign aims to enhance user engagement on Binance Square, a platform designed to connect content creators with their followers and provide a personalized feed based on user engagement history.

Hyperliquid is broadening its offerings beyond perpetual contracts to include pre-IPO trading, prediction contracts, and tokenized real-world assets, according to FalconX. Additionally, HYPE spot ETFs from 21Shares and Bitwise have attracted $53 million in inflows over a few trading days.

Tether has announced a collaboration with the Georgian government to introduce the GEL₮ stablecoin. According to Foresight News, GEL₮ is designed to serve as a digital representation of the Georgian Lari. The initiative aims to reduce transaction costs, enable near-instant settlements, support programmable payments, and enhance the efficiency of value flow within the digital financial system.

An anonymous investor has initiated a significant short position on Ethereum, valued at approximately $100 million, on the Hyperliquid platform. According to NS3.AI, this position employs a 23x leverage, with a liquidation price set at $2,149.84.

SoftBank Group's stock price reached a historic high on Monday, driven by market speculation that its holdings in OpenAI and SB Energy could yield substantial returns if they go public. According to Jin10, SoftBank's stock has surged 40% since May 20, with the company's market capitalization surpassing 40 trillion yen ($252 billion). The stock's sharp rise over two consecutive days last week followed reports that OpenAI is preparing to file for an IPO in the coming days. Additionally, SB Energy, a power infrastructure company, announced plans to confidentially file for an IPO in the United States. As OpenAI appears to be moving closer to an IPO, concerns about competitors like Anthropic, Google, and xAI threatening OpenAI's position have eased. Takashi Nakagawa, a senior analyst at TokaiTokyo Intelligence Laboratory, noted that the market is "extremely excited" about the long-anticipated OpenAI IPO potentially becoming a reality. He stated that this move would enhance transparency in the AI sector, which currently has relatively opaque valuations. SoftBank's investment portfolio includes a significant number of AI-driven, non-public startups.

BlackRock has sold Bitcoin worth $1.01 billion over the past week, according to data from Arkham. The sales were conducted on a daily basis throughout the week. According to Odaily, this marks a significant transaction volume for the asset management firm.

B3 has successfully registered the first guaranteed over-the-counter (OTC) flexible option tied to Hashdex's HASH11 crypto-index ETF. According to NS3.AI, the transaction was executed between Inter and XP, with B3's clearinghouse acting as the central counterparty. This structure integrates crypto ETF-linked exposure within regulated systems for counterparty risk, margining, clearing, and settlement.

SoftBank Group plans to issue subordinated bonds worth 260 billion yen ($16 billion) to retail investors, marking its return to the retail bond market just two months after its last issuance. According to Jin10, documents disclosed on Monday reveal that these bonds will have a 35-year term, with an option for the issuer to redeem them after five years. The bonds are set to be priced on June 5, with an initial five-year coupon guidance range of 4.8%-5.6%. The move comes amid increasing demand for funds related to artificial intelligence investments. Previously, SoftBank reduced a $10 billion margin loan plan secured by its OpenAI holdings, highlighting the growing pressure on its financing situation. SoftBank's investment in OpenAI has exceeded $60 billion, facing substantial financing needs related to AI infrastructure spending and other investments. Measured by credit default swaps (CDS), SoftBank's credit risk remains among the highest for Japanese companies, having widened by approximately 70 basis points since 2026.

Elon Musk has announced the completion of training for the Grok foundational model V9-Medium (1.5T). According to Odaily, the evaluation results have been positive. The model's supplementary training incorporated a significant amount of Cursor data, with plans to continue adding more. Fine-tuning is currently underway, and reinforcement learning is set to begin in a few days. The official release is expected in 2 to 3 weeks.

Bitwise advisor Jeff Park has drawn parallels between the current state of the cryptocurrency industry and the AI sector around 2015. According to Foresight News, Park likens the situation to when Nvidia's Jensen Huang had been investing in GPU parallel computing and CUDA for years, and Elon Musk had recognized AI's potential, yet public awareness was still a decade away.
Park references Musk's 2015 GTC remarks on autonomous driving, noting that while speeds of 0-10 mph and above 50 mph are relatively easy to address, the 10-50 mph range presents the greatest challenge. He believes the crypto industry is currently in this 'middle ground': the fundamental value of permissionless currency is understood (0-10 mph), and the endgame for on-chain capital markets is clear (50 mph+), but the biggest hurdle is the outdated institutional infrastructure. This includes AML/KYC compliance, offshore capital channels, banking risk models, and delayed reporting mechanisms, which collectively form the resistance in this 'middle ground.'
Park also differentiates between Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, describing Bitcoin as a monetary experiment born from technological evolution, while most crypto projects are technological experiments driven by monetary evolution. In his view, the ideology that will ultimately prevail in the crypto industry is not decentralization itself, but 'technological financialization.' This involves exporting sovereign finance, intelligent infrastructure, and self-sovereignty as public goods, with hyper-financialization at its core.

Panther Protocol has officially launched on Polygon, marking a significant milestone in decentralized finance with the introduction of programmable privacy. According to BeInCrypto, this new infrastructure enables confidential on-chain interactions while supporting verifiable compliance when necessary. Panther combines zero-knowledge cryptography, non-custodial architecture, and DAO governance to balance privacy and accountability in decentralized environments. Users can interact directly with smart contracts, maintaining control of their assets and generating cryptographic proofs locally. The protocol includes a compliance-enabled zone powered by credentials from providers like AMLBot via PureFi tooling, allowing privacy-preserving compliance compatible with institutional participation. Panther Reward Points (PRPs) are introduced to recognize protocol activity and support long-term ecosystem engagement.

A lawsuit filed in a New York court in May 2026 aims to declare a claimant, Noah Doe, as the legal owner of over 39,000 dormant Bitcoin (BTC) wallets, targeting a total of 3.79 million BTC. According to BeInCrypto, the amended complaint includes wallets attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, early miners, Casascius Coin holdings, and those linked to hackers. The combined value of these addresses is in the hundreds of billions of dollars at current prices. Ripple CTO David Schwartz commented on the case, suggesting that Bitcoin SV might honor such a ruling, highlighting its openness to legal pressures.

The win probability for T1 in the Polymarket prediction market has experienced a significant increase. According to ChainCatcher, the probability for T1 in the 'game spread: T1 (-2.5) vs. Dplus KIA (+2.5)' sub-market surged from 15% to 48.5% within an hour, marking a 33.5% fluctuation. This change is attributed to recent developments impacting the market.

Hong Kong's Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, has released an essay highlighting the city's appeal as an undervalued market, according to Foresight News. European officials and financial institutions have shown significant interest in Hong Kong's strengths in stocks, venture capital, wealth management, and digital assets. Hong Kong's experience in digital asset regulation is noted to be ahead of Europe, with both sides agreeing to enhance cooperation in cross-border investment, regulatory collaboration, and financial innovation.
During his visit, Chan emphasized Hong Kong's role as a 'super connector' between mainland China and international capital markets. He also extended an invitation to European representatives to visit Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area to explore investment opportunities.

Li Yuanheng announced on an interactive platform that the company, in collaboration with a high-quality enterprise experienced in pressure vessel manufacturing, has successfully completed core technology validation and performance testing of its newly developed isostatic press. According to Jin10, the equipment has met all design expectations and is ready for customer delivery. The isostatic press was showcased at the CIBF2026 exhibition. Currently, the company is working with leading industry clients to deliver horizontal isostatic presses and is simultaneously advancing the development of next-generation equipment capable of continuous production.

Jihan Wu has suggested that Bitcoin miners could potentially serve as ready buyers for excess electricity generated from Europe's solar energy surplus. According to NS3.AI, Wu emphasized the importance of battery storage, grid expansion, and flexible demand response in managing this surplus effectively.

The WLFI unlock activation portal has been operational for two weeks, facilitating the movement of 45.9 billion WLFI to the unlock contract. According to NS3.AI, the progress of this unlock stands at 73.8%, with the total value amounting to $2.81 billion.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has emphasized the importance of utilizing blockchain and artificial intelligence technologies for the future development of finance. According to Odaily, Chan noted in his essay 'Secretary's Notes' that while these technologies are essential, they also present governance challenges, such as criminals and terrorists exploiting international regulatory differences for money laundering and fundraising activities. Hong Kong's principles, practices, and experiences in digital asset development and regulation are ahead of Europe, offering opportunities for collaboration and mutual learning. This approach not only promotes healthy industry development but also contributes to global governance.

Singapore's Consumer Price Index (CPI) for April recorded an annual rate of 1.8%, according to Jin10. This figure aligns with the previous month's value and falls short of the anticipated 2.00%.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Baghaei stated that Iran charges ships passing through the Hormuz Strait a 'navigation service fee' rather than a 'transit fee.' According to Odaily, this clarification was reported by Iranian media on the 25th.

Eurozone government bond yields declined on Monday as hopes resurfaced for a U.S.-Iran agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, easing inflation concerns and reducing expectations for aggressive central bank rate hikes. According to Jin10, U.S. Secretary of State Rubio stated on Monday that the U.S. would either reach a 'good agreement' with Iran or handle the issue 'in another way.'
Currently, the money market anticipates the European Central Bank's deposit rate to be 2.57% in December, down from the 2.65% expected late last Friday, with the current rate at 2%. The market also shows a 70% probability of a first rate hike next month, down from the previous 80%.
Germany's two-year government bond yield, which is more sensitive to policy rate expectations, fell by 6.5 basis points to 2.5758%, marking the lowest level since May 8. This yield had reached 2.771% in late March, the highest since July 2024.

Grayscale CEO Barry Silbert recently commented on social media regarding the liquidation price of a significant ZEC short position. According to BlockBeats On-chain Detection, the liquidation price for this position is set at $1,073.72, which Silbert considers a reasonable short-term price target.
Previously, BlockBeats reported that the entity, referred to as a 'BTC OG insider whale,' had shorted 57,000 ZEC, resulting in an unrealized loss of $1.9 million.

Chun Wang has joined SpaceX's inaugural interplanetary mission to Mars by purchasing a two-year mission. According to NS3.AI, SpaceX announced that the mission will travel beyond the moon, pass Mars, and then return to Earth.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reportedly delayed its plan to permit the trading of tokenized stocks following concerns raised by stock exchange officials regarding the implementation of the proposal. According to Cointelegraph, Bloomberg reported on Friday that the SEC's "innovation exemption" for crypto-based stocks was anticipated to be released during the week. SEC staff had already reviewed a draft of the tokenized stock trading proposal.
The SEC has received feedback from numerous market participants on how to best implement the rules, but no decision has been made to alter the proposal. Under the SEC's plan, platforms offering tokenized stocks would be required to ensure that investors receive the same rights as traditional shareholders, including dividends and voting rights. Concerns were raised about the potential for unauthorized third parties to issue tokens without the consent of public companies and the challenges of verifying ownership on semi-pseudonymous blockchains.
The Trump administration has seen the SEC become more receptive to crypto-powered financial products, coinciding with Wall Street's growing interest in tokenization and stablecoins. Data from RWA.xyz indicates that $34 billion worth of real-world assets have been tokenized, including $1.55 billion in tokenized equities. However, adoption has not met the expectations set by Citibank and McKinsey, which predicted in 2022 and 2024 that tokenization would become a multi-trillion-dollar market by 2030.
The crypto industry has expressed support for the SEC's decision to delay the exemption. Carlos Domingo, CEO of crypto tokenization platform Securitize, emphasized the importance of ensuring the "exemption applies to the right instruments," stating that it is better to delay than to risk potential issues. Tom Farley, CEO of crypto exchange Bullish, praised the SEC's decision, noting that public companies should be the only entities authorized to issue tokens representing shares of stock.
The delay follows comments from SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, who indicated that she expected the exemption to be "limited in scope" and would only support "digital representations" of equity securities, akin to what investors can currently purchase in the secondary market. In January, the SEC distinguished between types of tokenized securities, classifying them into "custodial" and "synthetic" forms. Custodial tokenized securities are issuer-sponsored and custodied by regulated intermediaries, offering full shareholder rights, while synthetic tokenized securities provide price exposure without actual ownership of the underlying shares.

Turkey's central bank has conducted a one-week gold-for-lira swap auction using traditional methods, with a total auction size of 6 tons. According to Jin10, this auction is part of the central bank's ongoing efforts to manage liquidity and stabilize the national currency.

Natixis analysts have expressed skepticism about the high expectations for European Central Bank (ECB) rate hikes following recent indications of economic fragility in the Eurozone. According to Jin10, the analysts noted that the current pricing of ECB policy expectations remains aggressive, given the potential deterioration in Eurozone growth prospects. The recent surge in oil prices has negatively impacted consumer and business confidence, with preliminary data for May's Eurozone Purchasing Managers' Index unexpectedly weak. Data from the London Stock Exchange Group indicates that the Eurozone money market reflects an 80% probability of a 25 basis point rate hike by the ECB in June, with expectations of two additional hikes by the end of the year.

India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emphasized the importance of focusing on fuel, fertilizers, and foreign exchange on Monday. According to Jin10, she highlighted the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for conserving foreign exchange during the Gulf crisis. Earlier this month, Modi urged Indian citizens to save on fuel and foreign exchange, avoid purchasing gold, and adopt other austerity measures to better handle energy shocks and economic headwinds. "The Prime Minister's call to conserve foreign exchange as much as possible is very important," Sitharaman stated, adding that the focus on fuel, fertilizers, and foreign exchange should be viewed in this context. Sitharaman also noted that high prices of crude oil, fertilizers, and gold pose external challenges. As the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, India raised gasoline and diesel prices again on Monday, marking the fourth adjustment in May, to offset some losses. Sitharaman mentioned that due to the reduction in fuel excise duties, the Indian government's revenue is expected to decrease by 1 trillion rupees in the fiscal year 2027.

U.S. stock markets are closed tonight, but U.S. stock futures have risen, and China's A-shares have surged. However, Bitcoin remains unaffected by these movements. According to PANews, Strategy did not purchase Bitcoin last week, and ETFs experienced their third-worst weekly outflow of the year. Early Bitcoin whales have started selling, and the recent CME gap was rejected last week, indicating significant selling pressure on Bitcoin.

Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the country has no current plans to dispatch a delegation to Pakistan. According to NS3.AI, this statement clarifies Iran's diplomatic stance amid regional developments. The decision comes as both nations navigate complex geopolitical dynamics in the region.